The Elven Researcher's Plea
“……………”
When I brought up the topic of the thesis, my party members fell into silence. Everyone looked uncomfortable or lost in thought. Shit, did I come off too arrogant? But it was true that the subject was too heavy to joke about casually.
“……Excuse me~?”
The one who tried to change the atmosphere was the person who hated silence the most. It was Larilura.
“I get that it’s serious. You’re saying Senior or Dana-unni could get into danger while working, right? So does that mean we’re giving up on exploring the ruins too?”
“……Wouldn’t it be better to give up? Germania feels way too dangerous.”
Franc also shared her thoughts. The country she had worried about pirates appearing in on the way here now seemed like a hotbed for some suspicious evil organization. What if I ruined the good image of Germania she had in her head? It was her neighboring country, after all.
No, maybe not? It might not be. If I thought of it like the relationship between Korea, China, and Japan, there probably wasn’t only a good image. How rare were Koreans who cursed “Japs” all day but bought sushi with Chinese money and giggled?
Anyway, at Franc’s answer, Larilura glanced at us.
“I think it’d be better to go back. What do you think, Senior?”
“There’s no reason to explore this country’s ruins if it means risking our lives.”
“Then──”
“No. The problem isn’t which region they’re active in. It’s how those unknown bastards are finding and harming researchers.”
Yerna’s case was obvious. She won the Thousand Wings Award and stirred up the academic world, so of course she’d become known. It was all her own doing. But how were they finding and taking out the other scholars? There were so many papers that sank without seeing the light of day—how were they picking out only the ones that bothered them? That wasn’t something just anyone could do. Even internet community managers would beat you with a bat if you told them to comb through every single post 24/7 looking for specific keywords. If they could find and bring me papers and research that never saw the light of day in academia, I’d actually thank them before getting stabbed in the stomach. Ah, so my research wasn’t just meaningless bullshit text after all.
It felt more like a professional hitman team from Men in Black or a Terminator. Before getting stabbed and dying, I could at least have the satisfaction of thinking, As expected, I was right! like L writing names in the Death Note.
“Isn’t there a spy in the academic paper review department or something? Damn it. Having to watch out for people other than sponsors while doing research sounds like shit just thinking about it.”
Dana ruffled her hair roughly. Having to suck up to sponsors or meet research deadlines was the kind of experience that always ranked in the top 5 of a researcher’s worst experiences. Shit, if I thought about it that way, it was really dangerous. It meant we never knew when Dana or our sister might get “Tiananmen’d” because of their research!
“Whether it’s unfortunate or fortunate, at least we know now. If we hadn’t known and just kept going, I would’ve had to go around posting ‘Wife Wanted’ flyers on every door.”
“You damn scumbag husband. Are you assuming I’ll get captured?”
“I’ll make sure you don’t. How am I supposed to live without you, sis? I can’t even die because Franc is here. If you disappear, your husband might not even know if there are raisins or kidney beans in his bread and end up drowning in a ditch while eating.”
I made Dana’s ears turn bright red and activated my elite brain.
The chances of Dana and I being dragged away by some mysterious organization and stuffed in a museum of human mysteries are low. If they had been targeting our couple, we would’ve already reunited in a dark container, shown each other our insides, and become fish food in black concrete.
But thinking it’s 100% safe is also naive. Maybe they were focusing all their efforts on taking down Yerna first? Assuming that a mysterious evil organization would send underlings like in manga or novels and mess up was a mistake. What if they were systematically eliminating the ones who knew the most information first? Then Dana, the other lab slaves, and finally me.
There was also the saying that assassination happens when there are no witnesses. If those bastards were targeting Dana and me, I couldn’t guarantee the safety of our party members either. Crazy people were creatures that only felt satisfied after seeing blood.
“We don’t know enough to come to any conclusion.”
I said it out loud. I really don’t know shit.
“Still, this place does feel creepy. Wandering around dangerous areas blinded by money is crazy too. Let’s come back for the ruins and artifacts later. There are plenty of other ruins on the map, right?”
When I said that, the party members looked relieved. Shit, it took over a week just to get here, and they’re happy about going back. That was how ominous our reasoning had felt.
Only Franc looked slightly disappointed and asked,
“Right, Dana. Speaking of the map, the ‘country that left no trace in history’ that Nord mentioned isn’t on the map we found, is it?”
“No. If it had been there or if we could’ve restored it, I was planning to announce that first, but thinking about it now, we were lucky. If we had announced it, we might’ve been chased by that suspicious group too.”
“I see. That’s a shame.”
Just as Franc muttered regretfully, there was a knock.
—Knock knock.
Someone knocked on the door.
“Ms. Dana Berbeia. Are you there?”
It was a high soprano voice. The inn waitress.
—Thud.
Veronica quickly kicked the stone that had been maintaining the barrier. The mana affecting the walls disappeared, allowing our voices to be heard outside.
“Yes. I’m here.”
Dana, who had been called by name, answered as the representative. Since we had just been having a tense conversation, we made eye contact and prepared for battle. We didn’t want to get screwed if they broke down the door and attacked like in movies.
“Ah, thank goodness. Someone who came looking for a guest is waiting in the reception room on the first floor.”
I had been thinking about how to deal with enemies appearing from the window or door, but the waitress just said what she needed to say in a cheerful voice and left.
But a sudden visitor? It was really suspicious. I looked at Dana. She shook her head as if to say she had no one who would come looking for her. It was suspicious as hell. But what could we do by just sitting here? I immediately gathered only our three-person family who could fight and went down to the first floor. I was a bit worried, but surely they wouldn’t commit terrorism in the middle of town. And if they were that crazy, they’d chase us even if we ran.
With our guard raised to the MAX like 0.5-year-old puppies who had just been weaned, we headed toward the so-called guest. Fully armed, of course.
But what was waiting for us was surprisingly an elf. Of course, it wasn’t Yerna. It was a blonde female elf. She looked so stereotypically elven that even a snot-nosed kid who thought only their mom and dad existed in the world while wandering in the forest would recognize her as an elf.
Lab slave.
But I could smell a fellow worker on her. Not with a hawk’s eye, but with a bear’s nose. Just like how soldiers recognized each other by their smell, I smelled ink on her. Her tied-back hair and thick glasses were the very image of a lab ghost who had forgotten how to groom herself.
“Ah, welcome.”
Her voice shrinking back was very much like a scholar’s. She had gained the speed to scribble with a pen like lightning but had forgotten how to speak with her own mouth. A female elf nerd was a hell of an otherworldly combination.
“Who are you? You seem like someone I’m meeting for the first time.”
Dana asked. Perhaps intimidated by our fully armed appearance—I was even carrying a spear—the blonde elf girl stammered before answering.
“Um, I’m Lillian Hercial, a master’s student in the archaeology department at Rodbrick University. You’re Ms. Dana Berbeia who worked with Professor Yerna, right?”
“Yes. These two are my family.”
When Dana pointed at us, I nodded in greeting.
“I’m her husband, Nord. I’m an adventurer.”
“I’m Francesca, also an adventurer.”
“Family……? Ah, I see. Please have a seat.”
Lillian put up a question mark for a moment at the word “family,” then seemed to roughly understand. Dana sat down as Lillian offered. Then, before my butt could even feel the chair’s coldness, she spoke.
“There’s only one reason I can think of for someone I’m meeting for the first time to come find me on purpose. Our only common point or connection is that we’re archaeologists and worked under the same professor.”
“Huh? Ah, yes.”
“Did you come because of Professor Gracié’s disappearance? I’m sorry, but our group doesn’t know anything about what happened……. I don’t think we can be of any help.”
Dana politely shot out the conclusion first. It was probably because Lillian looked like she would take dozens of minutes just to get to her point.
“No, that’s…… it’s similar but for a completely different reason.”
Lillian used the hesitant expression I expected. Shit, can’t I sit next to her too? From the way things were going, it felt like it would take 30 minutes to get to the main point. I thought that with slight dissatisfaction, but fortunately, Lillian got straight to the point. It was probably because she had no talent for fluently dragging out the introduction.
“Actually, I came because I have an idea about Professor Yerna’s whereabouts.”
“……What did you say?”
But that main point landed a surprisingly heavy blow. Dana’s eyes widened like fists, as if she had taken a clean hit while sparring with a child.
—Twitch.
Dana suppressed the urge to look at me with superhuman patience. She had been about to ask for my opinion but held back to avoid giving information to Lillian.
“……Did you tell the university?”
“No. I didn’t say anything.”
“Why? You know the university is also looking for her, right?”
“Yes. But the professor told me not to say anything.”
Lillian’s eyes, hidden behind her lenses, shone with determination. Yerna told her not to say anything? Did that mean she had told her where she was going before disappearing?
As if she had anticipated our questions, Lillian spoke quietly.
“You know this too, Dr. Berbeia, but Professor Yerna is really a kind person.”
It was such sudden bullshit. At that baseless bombshell statement, I had to lightly hit Dana’s back and hold Franc’s hand. I needed to teach these wives Yerna’s anger management techniques.
“……Yes. She is a kind person.”
Dana answered while gritting her teeth as if doing jump rope with her intestines. Honestly, even I, who was good at controlling my anger, was pissed. My favorability toward Lillian plummeted to the depths of the sea. If this had been a stock, it would’ve been a sharp decline that would’ve required checking the water temperature of the Han River.
Lillian, true to her loner study bug nature, nodded without noticing.
“That’s right. But Professor Yerna, who had always been like that, suddenly became much sharper a few weeks before she went missing. She started canceling lectures often, and a week before she disappeared, she stopped coming to school altogether.”
I tilted my head. What’s the problem with that? Wasn’t the professor just acting like a “professor”? Wasn’t this Lillian’s fault for not recognizing that Yerna was showing her true nature?
The ponytail elf, who had been about to open her mouth, looked around as if worried about the soundproofing of the reception room. Then, seeming relieved, she spoke.
“And a few days before she disappeared, she told me. She said she was thinking of exploring the Ghost City of Mozriun for a while and asked if I could come with her.”
At those words, Dana opened her mouth to speak, then closed it. The Ghost City of Mozriun. It was the place we had been planning to search for ancient civilization ruins. Since the map’s markings were rough, we had been planning to search around the most suspicious area first. That is, if things had gone as planned.
“Why would Professor Gracié say something like that to Miss Lillian?”
“I think she recommended the exploration to me because both the professor and I were born outside Tatarnia. She said elves not born in Kitai were rare, and she took good care of me.”
Lillian answered bitterly. It was like meeting a fellow Korean abroad? They said the person you should trust the least overseas was someone from your hometown, and it really was a pity. This gentle elf could’ve had the chance to grow up after tasting the bitterness of the world.
Dana mulled over Lillian’s words, then let out a breath.
“I understand what you’re saying. But I don’t understand why you’re telling us this. Didn’t Professor Gracié ask you to keep quiet from the university?”
“I couldn’t help but worry. There’s been news of frequent disappearances in the Ghost City for several weeks, and the professor hasn’t contacted anyone. There’s no proof she’s there, but this was the only clue I had.”
Lillian bit her lip like a part-timer worried about their shady convenience store owner’s sales. Then she pleaded earnestly.
“Dr. Berbeia. Instead of me, who’s being watched by the university, could you please look around the Ghost City?”
***
After that, Lillian answered Dana’s questions for about 30 minutes before returning to the university.
“Since I was the last person the professor met, the university is also suspicious of me. If I’m late getting back, it’ll cause trouble for you too.”
That was the reason. She seemed to be suspected as a person of interest and needed to leave before it was too late.
We returned to the inn room and set up a soundproof barrier. Franc watched Lillian leave through the window. Along with the two birds following her.
“Everyone, what do you think?”
“It seems like a trap to me. She’s an elf too, after all.”
Larilura seemed very suspicious of the elf who had appeared at such convenient timing. I felt the same. That’s why, while Dana bought us time, I caught two birds outside, fed them, and sent them to follow her. I had asked them to keep an eye on Lillian.
Veronica muttered thoughtfully.
“Hmm. A trap. It’s true that elf is suspicious, but what kind of trap could it possibly be? That Yerna woman has no reason to target you now.”
“Who knows. Maybe the History Erasure Committee personally came down?”
Dana snorted. It was a naming sense worthy of my wife. It might be wise to have her use a naming service or ghostwriter when she publishes a book later.
“Still, if not now, we might lose this chance forever.”
—Rustle.
Franc closed the curtains.
“If we go back now, Nord’s revenge, finding the enemies who might come after Nord and Dana someday, all of it will fall apart.”
Franc shared her thoughts and asked me. With that blind love that sometimes felt excessive a month ago, as if she always prioritized my opinion above all else.
“What does Nord want to do?”
Franc’s question represented the hearts of the group. It seemed like the party was planning to decide how to act based on my answer. I wasn’t flustered. After all, I was the one who held the deepest grudge against that Yerna bitch. More than anything, the fact that they respected me was already well known.
“……Right.”
I understood more than a hundred times that my choice might put my and their lives on the line, considered all possible scenarios, and then answered quietly.
“Let’s go.”
Whatever form or ending it took, only God would know. But it seemed like the time had come to put an end to this long, bitter relationship.